Governance and the Political Economy of Conflicts

1997

Number of visits: 363

Contradictions are part of life but violent conflicts are often the manifestation of a breakdown of the mechanisms of regulation of public affairs (politics). Over the years, Africa has been the theatre of violent conflicts, most of which are internal, in some cases leading to the disintegration of the state, the disruption of official economies and the emergence of parallel economies. The politics of liberalisation and de-regulation have engendered unexpected results. The fiscal crisis of the state has drastically diminished its regulatory capacity. Wars are expensive in terms of their effects on the lives of peoples, on infrastructure and on production and distribution of commodities. In the new forms of accumulation linked with the development of warlordism, the boundaries between what is criminal and what is not have become blurred. Social spaces are being redefined. Populations have been displaced, local communities have grown tremendously with the rise in the number of refugees in record times.